3rd Grade Unit on United States Economics

1
3rd Grade Unit on United States Economics

• Designed by Mark Caponigro

2
Lesson Flow Chart
3
Sample Lesson
4
Project Overview

• This comprehensive learning unit, designed for a
  3rd grade teacher, effectively engages students
  in activities centered around how economic terms
  opportunity cost, scarcity, price, needs, wants,
  goods, services, resources, profit, loss, supply,
  and demand influence economic decision-making.
  This unit was deigned for use by my client, Sally
  Hollyfield, a fellow third grade teacher at Cedar
  Hill Elementary in Lawrenceville, GA. Per her
  request, and by using the Elaboration Theory
  learning model, I utilized existing software,
  hardware, and media-based technologies available
  at the school to implement the unit. These
  included the use of web-based instructional
  programs such as Brain Pop and other internet
  based games, tutorials, and WebQuests the
  AVerKey projection system, computers in the three
  labs in the school, and the desktop, laptop,
  television, and VCR player available in her
  classroom. While I assisted Ms. Hollyfield in
  implementing as much of the unit as possible
  prior to CRCT testing, it was my goal (and her
  understanding) that she would be able to take
  this pre-designed unit and fully implement it in
  future years without assistance. Sally is very
  happy with what she has used, she feels the unit
  as a whole is a success, and she cant wait to
  use it fully next year!

5
AKS and GPS Standards

• Gwinnett County Public Schools (AKS) and State of
  Georgia Department of Education (GPS, QCC)
• standards are referenced during the execution of
  this unit. The following economics standards
• required in third grade are covered in their
  entirety
• AKS
• 3SS_C1999-2 Describe the economic system used in
  the United States today (QCC, ITBS).
• Indicators of Achievement
• 2a. Recognize taxes as a way for a community to
  collect money and provide services.
• 2b. Distinguish between goods and services.
• 2c. Distinguish between producers and consumers.
  Consider needs/wants, occupations, volunteer
  workers, and public services.
• GPS
• SS3E1 The student will describe the four types
  of productive resources
• a. Natural (land)
• b. Human (labor)
• c. Capital (capital goods)
• d. Entrepreneurship (used to create goods and
  services)
• SS3E2 The student will explain that governments
  provide certain types of goods and services in a
  market economy and pay for these through taxes
  and will describe services such as schools,
  libraries, roads, police/fire protection, and
  military.

6
Goals

• 1. Define key terms including economics,
  interdependence, opportunity cost, currency,
  price, supply, demand, needs, wants, capital,
  goods, services, benefits, scarcity, producer,
  consumer, entrepreneurship, and resource.
  (Knowledge)
• 2. Describe 1. the economic system used in the
  United States today, 2. services used such as
  schools, libraries, roads, police/fire
  protection, and military, 3. the four types of
  productive resources. (Comprehension)
• 3. Classify the difference between goods and
  services and between producers and consumers by
  considering wants/needs, occupations, volunteer
  workers, and public services. (Application)
• 4. Explain that governments provide certain types
  of goods and services in a market economy and pay
  for these through taxes. (Analysis)
• 5. Propose why it is important for our government
  to tax its population as a way to collect money,
  provide services, and build communities.
  (Synthesis)
• 6. Choose examples of interdependence and trade
  and will explain how voluntary change benefits
  both parties. (Evaluation)

7
Objectives

• Define needs and wants through the set up of a
  classroom economy where students are paid
  fined. Students will complete Find someone who
  activity.
• Discuss the terms goods and services in a whole
  group setting using a designated read aloud.
  Distinguish between the two concepts and
  reiterate that both are things people want.
• Role play various services provided in the
  American economy in a variety of ways. Compare
  services to goods produced through other types of
  employment.
• Illustrate a sign advertising a product or
  service. Discuss what producers and consumers are
  and how they relate to goods, services, and
  resources.
• Identify the three types of resources (human,
  capital, and natural) in a designated class read
  aloud.
• Categorize classroom/real world jobs according to
  the resources involved. Students will distinguish
  themselves from others by filing out a job
  application.
• Investigate goods and services produced and
  resources used in the immediate community through
  a business employee interview.
• Compose (participate in) a role-play activity To
  Choose is to Refuse that develops grasp of terms
  currency (cash, checks, credit cards), supply,
  demand, and scarcity answers, Can we get
  everything we want? One must work, make money,
  or trade (defined in role-play).
• Practice making choices in three categories
  (food, games, and toys) in order to define and
  apply the term opportunity cost.
• Create a product (a hamburger, for example) and
  identify the three resources needed to make it
  (human- cooking and combining ingredients,
  capital- making ketchup from tomatoes, natural-
  beef, grain for bread).
• Choose an item to construct (goods or services)
  and replicate Include how it's made, the cost,
  descriptions, and resources used.
• Defend choices made regarding what to buy/not to
  buy at the Market Day. Refer to desired items,
  items that were too expensive, a good deal, and
  just right.

8
Learning Model

• An Elaboration Theory model will be used to
  implement this unit. Elaboration Theory, coined
  by Dr. Charles Reigeluth of Indiana University,
  is an embedded theory of the Cognitivist
  paradigm. Through the use of this theory,
  knowledge is presented in a sequential order from
  least complex to greatest. Concepts are presented
  in layers, where each layer builds from the
  previous. Acting as a facilitator of knowledge,
  the teacher presents lessons in a way that each
  subsequent lesson is elaborated on and therefore
  integrated into the current lesson. Background
  knowledge and clarity are reinforced through the
  revisiting of previous concepts during each
  lesson, allowing more intricate concepts to be
  introduced at each stage in the process.
• There are seven major strategy components of
  Elaboration Theory, all of which have been
  incorporated into the unit lessons
• 1. An elaborative sequence
• 2. Learning prerequisite sequences
• 3. Summary
• 4. Synthesis
• 5. Analogies
• 6. Cognitive strategies
• 7. Learner control

9
Essential Questions

• Lesson 1 What is Economics and why is it
  important to me?
• Lesson 2 What are goods and services?
• Lesson 3 What are producers and consumers? What
  is profit and loss?
• Lesson 4 What is an economic resource? What
  purpose do they serve in a market economy?
• Lesson 5 How does supply compare to demand? What
  if a good or resource is scarce? What does
  opportunity cost mean? What is the difference
  between a want and a need?
• Lesson 6 What is interdependence and how does it
  affect me? I know what a market is, but what is a
  market economy?